Challenges, Some Are More So Than Others

I think the challenges Brett Kavanaugh's family encounters pale in comparison to those of the Lawrence family residing on Jacksonville’s Westside in FLCD-5/formerly FLCD-3.

This morning Mrs. Lawrence was riding her bicycle at 6AM EST as she commuted to work at Amazon.  She was hit and killed in an auto accident not too far from where her daughter stood awaiting her school bus.  There are many unknowns to the situation; more specifically, did she have safety lights, was the car traveling at a high rate of speed, etc., but that is immaterial.  Her death creates long-lasting challenges for her survivors and my heart aches for them like my heart aches for Brett Kavanaugh’s daughters.

Mrs. Lawrence’s survivors include:

1. A husband and 
2. At least 2 teenagers of which:

• One is the previously mentioned daughter and 
• The other is an older special needs child.  

Moreover, her survivors live in a trailer not too far from where the accident occurred in an area that I once trod as I conducted surveys door-to-door approximately 9 nine years ago.  I mentioned that only to paint the picture that this family is poor, but doing what they needed to do to survive albeit with a hope and a prayer.

I learned of Mrs. Lawrence’s death reading the local news immediately after reading about Brett Kavanaugh’s third accuser and her accusations.  I immediately thought about each family and how each would deal with their respective challenges.

Sadly, I think the Lawrence family will have considerable struggles and hardships for years to come whereas the Kavanaughs (especially the daughters) will most likely only wrestle with the notion that Brett Kavanaugh had arguably been disrespectful to young women when he was at an age not much older than his daughters.

Moreover, I can empathize more with the Lawrences than the Kavanaughs.  While I personally have known a few individuals with wealth and influence from time to time, I have for the most part felt like being on the outside only to look in from time to time.  I am very fortunate that my wife works as I have yet to find steady income after being laid off from a reduction in force (RIF).  I am in the process of improving my skills to find employment with upward mobility versus having to take on menial work at a place like a warehouse.  I realize my situation is a luxury that many people do not have so they take what they can, which makes it very hard for them to break the cycle of just-getting-by let alone poverty.

Therefore, I find it galling that our government may put on the Supreme Court a man who is arguably unfit to sit there for multiple reasons, the most important one being honesty.  Brett Kavanaugh with all his privilege squandered his opportunities, which I blame in part on his parents who I believe abdicated their parenting duties and the boarding school administrators failing to assume them as it seems Brett did not develop if he developed at all a strong moral compass.  It is possible Brett Kavanaugh developed a moral compass later on, but he has obviously failed to acknowledge it until today after the third accusation.

Another reason why he is unfit to sit on the bench is that his arguable lack of self-introspection makes it hard for him to fully understand the challenges a family like the Lawrences now encounters.  As such, we need people on the bench that not only know the law and respect it, but know and empathize with families like the Lawrences because I believe there are more of them than the Kavanaughs amongst us.